Wireless location tracking tag for monitoring real time location-tracking apparatus for an electronic device

ABSTRACT

A system for tracking the location of an electronic device includes an electronic device and a wireless location tag. The wireless location tag includes a microcontroller unit, and a modular connector interface configured to be communicatively coupled to a port of the electronic device. The wireless location tag is configured to establish an Internet connection to one or more backend electronic devices in response to detecting that the wireless location tag has been communicatively coupled to the port of the electronic device, obtain identifying information that is associated with the electronic device, and identify tag identifying information associated with the wireless location tag. The wireless location tag is also configured to send one or more instructions to the one or more backend electronic devices via the Internet connection, and send one or more ping messages to the one or more backend electronic devices.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to, and is a continuation applicationof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/253,347, filed Jan. 22, 2019, thedisclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

It is often desirable to know the precise location of a print devicewithin an environment. For example, an equipment provider or serviceprovider may want to know the location of a print device in order togive a technician an accurate description of where to find the printdevice on a customer's premises. As another example, an equipmentprovider may want to know when a customer moves or disconnects a printdevice from an installed location.

Currently, real time location-tracking system (RTLS) tags are used toassociate a print device with a particular location. However,associating such tags is often done manually, which is a time consumingprocess. For example, a technician may be asked to find an identifierassociated with a print device, find an identifier associated with atag, and associate them using, for example, a mobile application.However, such methods that rely on manual entry tend to be error prone,and require specialized training to implement.

This document describes a portable electronic device that can be used toautomatically associate a print device with the portable electronicdevice (and therefore the location of the portable electronic device)that addresses at least some of the problems described above, and/orother problems.

SUMMARY

In an embodiment, a system for tracking the location of an electronicdevice includes an electronic device and a wireless location tag. Thewireless location tag includes a microcontroller unit, and a modularconnector interface configured to be communicatively coupled to a portof the electronic device. The wireless location tag is configured toestablish an Internet connection to one or more backend electronicdevices in response to detecting that the wireless location tag has beencommunicatively coupled to the port of the electronic device, obtainidentifying information that is associated with the electronic device,and identify tag identifying information associated with the wirelesslocation tag. The wireless location tag is also configured to send oneor more instructions to the one or more backend electronic devices viathe Internet connection, and send one or more ping messages to the oneor more backend electronic devices. The one or more instructions includethe identifying information associated with the electronic device andthe tag identifying information. The one or more backend electronicdevices is configured to associate at least a portion of the receivedidentifying information with at least a portion of the tag identifyinginformation. Each ping message includes location information indicatinga current location of the wireless location tag. The one or more backendelectronic devices is configured to associate at least a portion of thelocation information with the at least a portion of the identifyinginformation associated with the electronic device.

Optionally, the port may include an Ethernet port.

The wireless location tag may be configured to establish the Internetconnection to the one or more backend electronic devices via the port.The wireless location tag may be configured to establish the Internetconnection to the one or more backend electronic devices via a cellularmodem of the wireless location tag.

The wireless location tag may be configured to obtain identifyinginformation that is associated with the electronic device by obtainingone or more of the following: a media access control address of theelectronic device; an Internet Protocol address of the electronicdevice; or a serial number of the electronic device.

The wireless location tag may be configured to obtain tag identifyinginformation that is associated with the wireless location tag byretrieving a unique identifier associated with the wireless location tagfrom the microcontroller unit. The wireless location tag is furtherconfigured to determine the current location of the wireless locationtag.

The wireless location tag may be configured to determine the currentlocation of the wireless location tag using an indoor location system.In another embodiment, the wireless location tag is configured todetermine the current location of the wireless location tag via acellular network. The electronic device may be a print device.

The wireless location tag may be configured to compare the currentlocation of the wireless location tag to a previous location of thewireless location tag, and in response to determining that the previouslocation is different than the current location, send a notification tothe one or more backend electronic devices.

The wireless location tag may be configured to detect whether thewireless location tag is disconnected from a power source for a periodof time, and in response to detecting that the wireless location tag isdisconnected from the power source for the period of time, send anotification to the one or more backend electronic devices.

In an embodiment, a system for tracking the location of an electronicdevice includes an electronic device and a computer-readable storagemedium. The computer-readable storage medium includes one or moreprogramming instructions that, when executed, cause the electronicdevice to receive from a wireless location tag that is communicativelycoupled to a port of a target electronic device one or more instructionscomprising identifying information associated with the target electronicdevice and tag identifying information associated with the wirelesslocation tag, associate at least a portion of the identifyinginformation with at least a portion of the tag identifying information,receive one or more ping messages from the wireless location tag,wherein each ping message comprises location information indicating acurrent location of the wireless location tag, and associate at least aportion of the location information with the at least a portion of theidentifying information associated with the electronic device.

The target electronic device may include a print device.

The computer-readable storage medium may include one or more programminginstructions that, when executed, cause the electronic device toreceive, from the wireless location tag, a notification that a previouslocation of the wireless location tag is different than the currentlocation of the wireless location tag, and generate and present anotification to a user that the current location is different than theprevious location.

The computer-readable storage medium may include one or more programminginstructions that, when executed, cause the electronic device toreceive, from the wireless location tag, a notification that thewireless location tag is disconnected from a power source for a periodof time, and generate and present a notification to a user that thewireless location tag is disconnected from the power source.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates example components of a system.

FIG. 2 illustrates example components of a wireless location tag.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example wireless location tag connected to a printdevice.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart of an example method of associating awireless location tag with an electronic device.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing various equipment that may be used toimplement various embodiments of the processes described in thisdocument.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This disclosure is not limited to the particular systems, methodologiesor protocols described, as these may vary. The terminology used in thisdescription is for the purpose of describing the particular versions orembodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope.

As used in this document, any word in singular form, along with thesingular forms “a,” “an” and “the,” include the plural reference unlessthe context clearly dictates otherwise. Unless defined otherwise, alltechnical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings ascommonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. Allpublications mentioned in this document are incorporated by reference.Nothing in this document is to be construed as an admission that theembodiments described in this document are not entitled to antedate suchdisclosure by virtue of prior invention. As used in this document, theterm “comprising” means “including, but not limited to.”

The terms “computing device” and “electronic device” interchangeablyrefer to a device having a processor and a non-transitory,computer-readable medium (i.e., memory). The memory may containprogramming instructions in the form of a software application that,when executed by the processor, causes the device to perform one or moreprocessing operations according to the programming instructions. Anelectronic device also may include additional components such as atouch-sensitive display device that serves as a user interface, as wellas a camera for capturing images. An electronic device also may includeone or more communication hardware components such as a transmitterand/or receiver that will enable the device to send and/or receivesignals to and/or from other devices, whether via a communicationsnetwork or via near-field or short-range communication protocols. If so,the programming instructions may be stored on the remote device andexecuted on the processor of the computing device as in a thin client orInternet of Things (IoT) arrangement. Example components of anelectronic device are discussed below in the context of FIG. 6.

The terms “memory,” “memory device,” “computer-readable medium” and“data store” each refer to a non-transitory device on whichcomputer-readable data, programming instructions or both are stored.Unless the context specifically states that a single device is requiredor that multiple devices are required, the terms “memory,” “memorydevice,” “computer-readable medium” and “data store” include both thesingular and plural embodiments, as well as portions of such devicessuch as memory sectors.

A “print device” or “print engine” is an electronic device that isconfigured to print a document based on digital data, or amulti-functional device in which one of the functions is printing basedon digital data. Example components of a print device include a printhead, which may include components such as a print cartridge orreservoir containing ink, toner or another print material, as well as adocument feeding system configured to pass a substrate through the printdevice so that the print head can print characters and/or images on thesubstrate.

A “processor” or “processing device” is a hardware component of anelectronic device that is configured to execute programminginstructions. The term “processor” may refer to a single processor or tomultiple processors that together implement various steps of a process.Unless the context specifically states that a single processor isrequired or that multiple processors are required, the term “processor”includes both the singular and plural embodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates example components of a system 100 for performingreal-time location tracking of an electronic device according to variousembodiments. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a system 100 may include a targetelectronic device 102, a wireless location tag 104, and a backendelectronic device 106. As explained in more detail throughout thisdisclosure, the wireless location tag 104 may be connected to the targetelectronic device 102 via an Ethernet port of the electronic device. Thewireless location tag 104 may communicate with the backend electronicdevice via one or more communication networks 108. A communicationnetwork 108 may be a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), a mobile or cellular communication network, an extranet, anintranet, the Internet and/or the like. In various embodiments, a targetelectronic device 102 may be a print device, a multifunction device, alaptop computer, a mobile electronic device, a desktop computer and/orthe like.

In various embodiments, a provider of a wireless location tag may be thesame as a provider or operator of a backend electronic device and/or atarget electronic device. For instance, a provider of a wirelesslocation tag may also provide location monitoring or tracking servicesvia one or more backend electronic devices. Alternatively, a provider ofa wireless location tag may be different from a provider or operator ofa backend electronic device and/or a target electronic device. Forinstance, a provider of a wireless location tag may not provide locationmonitoring or tracking services via one or more backend electronicdevices. These services may be provided by a different provider.Similarly, the operator of a target electronic device may be differentfrom the provider of the wireless location tag and/or a backendelectronic device.

FIG. 2 illustrates example components of a wireless location tag 104according to various embodiments. As shown in FIG. 2, a wirelesslocation tag 104 may include a power supply 200 that is configured toreceive power from an external source. For example, a power supply maybe a battery that is powered by an external electrical power source. Awireless location tag 104 may include a backup battery 202 which maypower the wireless location tag when the power supply is depleted ordisconnected. A wireless location tag 104 may include a modem 204 suchas, for example, a cellular model. For instance, a wireless location tag104 may include an LTE modem in certain embodiments.

A wireless location tag 104 may include a microcontroller unit 206,which may perform one or more of the location-tracking methods describedin this disclosure. The microcontroller unit 206 may be in communicationwith two Ethernet transformers 208, 210. One Ethernet transformer 208may be associated with a modular connector interface 212 that serves asan out-interface. The other Ethernet transformer 210 may be associatedwith a modular connector interface 214 that serves as an in-interface.In various embodiments, a modular connector interface may be an EightPosition, Eight Contact pin array (8P8C) connector such as, for example,an RJ45 connector.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example wireless location tag connected to anelectronic device, such as, for example, a print device, according tovarious embodiments. As illustrated in FIG. 3, a wireless location tag104 may be inserted into an Ethernet port of an electronic device 302such that a modular connector interface 212 that serves as anout-interface of the wireless location tag interfaces with a modularconnector interface 304 of the electronic device. As illustrated in FIG.3, a modular connector interface 214 that serves as an in-interface of awireless location tag may be in communication with a communicationnetwork such as, for example, a local communication network.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example method of associating a wireless locationtag with an electronic device according to an embodiment. As illustratedin FIG. 4, a wireless location tag may be communicatively coupled 400 toan electronic device to which it is to be associated. A wirelesslocation tag may be communicatively coupled by inserting it into anEthernet port of an electronic device. Alternatively, a wirelesslocation tag may wirelessly connect to an electronic device such as, forexample, via short range communication.

In various embodiments, a wireless location tag may detect that it hasbeen communicatively coupled to an electronic device. Once coupled, awireless location tag may connect to a communication network such as,for example, the Internet. A wireless location tag may connect to acommunication network through a local communication network such as, forinstance, via the Ethernet port of the electronic device, or using WiFi.Alternatively, a wireless location tag may utilize a cellular network(e.g., a LTE/GSM network) to connect to a communication network.

Once connected to an electronic device, a wireless location tag mayobtain 402 identifying information from the electronic device.Identifying information may include, for example, a media access control(MAC) address, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a serial number orother identifiers associated with the electronic device.

In various embodiments, a wireless location tag may obtain 404identifying information associated with the wireless location tag.Identifying information may include a unique identifier associated withthe wireless location tag. At least a portion of identifying informationassociated with a wireless location tag may be stored on amicrocontroller unit of the wireless location tag.

The wireless location tag may establish 406 a communication channel to abackend electronic device such as, for example, via an Internetconnection. The backend electronic device may be located remotely fromthe electronic device. In an embodiment, the wireless location tag maysend 408 an association instruction to the backend electronic device.The association instruction may include at least a portion of theidentifying information associated with the electronic device and/or theidentifying information associated with the wireless location tag.

The backend electronic device may receive 410 the associationinstruction. The backend electronic device may store 412 at least aportion of the information included in the association instruction in adata store so that it is associated. For instance, an electronicprocessing device may store identifying information associated with anelectronic device that is included in an association instruction inassociation with identifying information associated with a wireless tagthat is included in the association instruction.

In various embodiments, a wireless location tag may periodicallydetermine 414 its current location. For instance, a wireless locationtag may determine its current location at regular intervals.Alternatively, a wireless location tag may determine its currentlocation at random times or in response to one or more triggers. Atrigger may be the occurrence or non-occurrence of one or more actions.For instance, if a wireless location tag detects that it has lost power,this may be a trigger to determine a current location.

In an embodiment, a wireless location tag may determine 414 its locationusing an indoor location system such as, for example, WiFi-based indoorlocation systems, proximity-based systems, acoustic systems, andinfrared systems. An indoor location system refers to technology thatallows for locating objects indoors.

For example, in a WiFi-based indoor location system, a wireless locationtag may communicate with one or more wireless access points in anenvironment. For instance, in an office setting, a wireless location tagmay be connected to a print device. The wireless location tag maycommunicate with one or more wireless access points in proximity to theprint device. A wireless access point refers to a hardware electronicdevice that permits a wireless enabled electronic device to connect to awired network. A wireless access point may be a standalone device whichis positioned at various locations in the environment. Alternatively, awireless access point may be a component of another device, such as, forexample, a router which is similarly positioned throughout anenvironment. The wireless access points may be present in a high enoughdensity to service an entire environment.

In various embodiments, a wireless access point may log the time and thestrength of one or more communications from a wireless location tag. Thewireless access point may send at least part of the logged informationto an electronic device such as, for example, a backend electronicdevice. The backend electronic device may use the received informationto estimate a location of the wireless access tag. For example, anelectronic device may use the received information to determine aposition of the wireless location tag relative to a fixed point in theenvironment. An electronic device may store or have access to a map of arelevant environment, and may use the map to determine a position of thewireless location tag relative to a reference point. This position maybe measured as a certain distance from a reference point, or as one ormore position coordinates, such as longitude and latitude.

In another embodiment, a wireless location tag may determine 414 itslocation using cellular technology. For instance, Secure User PlaneLocation (SUPL) protocol may be used to pinpoint the location of awireless location tag. The SUPL protocol is an Internet Protocol(IP)-based protocol for receiving location information via IP. Thislocation information may be used in connection with a map of anenvironment, which may be stored by one or more backend electronicdevices.

In various embodiments, a wireless location tag may log 416 its currentlocation. A wireless location tag may log 416 its current location bysaving an indication of the current location in a local data store on orin communication with the wireless location tag. An indication of acurrent location may be one or more coordinates of the current location.In an embodiment, a wireless location tag may send one or more pingmessages to one or more backend electronic devices. A ping messagerefers to a communication that includes an indication of a wirelesslocation tag's current location. In various embodiments, a wirelesslocation tag may regularly send ping messages to one or more backendelectronic devices. In another embodiment, a wireless location tag maysend one or more ping messages to one or more backend electronic devicesin response to a trigger event, as described in more detail below. In anembodiment, one or more backend electronic devices may store suchinformation in association with at least a portion of the identifyinginformation associated with the print device and/or the wirelesslocation tag.

After logging a current location, a wireless location tag may determine418 whether the current location differs from a logged immediatelypreceding location. If the current location differs from an immediatelypreceding location, the wireless location tag may send 420 anotification to a backend electronic device that its location has beenchanged. The backend electronic device may in turn generate anotification and present the notification to a user to notify the user,such as an administrator, of the change of location.

In various embodiments, as mentioned above, a wireless location tag maysend a backend electronic device a notification if one or more triggerevents occur. For instance, a wireless location tag may send a backendelectronic device a notification if the wireless location tag detectsthat it is unplugged from an electronic device's Ethernet port, or if itdetects that the electronic device is powered off for a period of time.Similarly, a wireless location tag may send a backend electronic devicea notification if it loses power or is otherwise using its backup powersource. The backend electronic device may in turn generate anotification and present the notification to a user to notify the userof the trigger event.

FIG. 5 depicts an example of internal hardware that may be included inany of the electronic components of the system, such as a print devicehaving a processing capability, or a local or remote computing devicethat is in communication with the print device, or a barcode scanningdevice. An electrical bus 500 serves as an information highwayinterconnecting the other illustrated components of the hardware.Processor 505 is a central processing device of the system, configuredto perform calculations and logic operations required to executeprogramming instructions. As used in this document and in the claims,the terms “processor” and “processing device” may refer to a singleprocessor or any number of processors in a set of processors thatcollectively perform a set of operations, such as a central processingunit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a remote server, or acombination of these. Read only memory (ROM), random access memory(RAM), flash memory, hard drives and other devices capable of storingelectronic data constitute examples of memory devices 525 that may storethe programming instructions. A memory device may include a singledevice or a collection of devices across which data and/or instructionsare stored. Various embodiments of the invention may include acomputer-readable medium containing programming instructions that areconfigured to cause one or more processors, or other devices to performthe functions described in the context of the previous figures.

An optional display interface 530 may permit information from the bus500 to be displayed on a display device 535 in visual, graphic oralphanumeric format. An audio interface and audio output (such as aspeaker) also may be provided. Communication with external devices mayoccur using various communication devices 540 such as a wirelessantenna, an RFID tag and/or short-range or near-field communicationtransceiver, each of which may optionally communicatively connect withother components of the device via one or more communication system. Thecommunication device(s) 540 may be configured to be communicativelyconnected to a communications network, such as the Internet, a localarea network or a cellular telephone data network.

The hardware may also include a user interface sensor 545 that allowsfor receipt of data from input devices 550 such as a keyboard, a mouse,a joystick, a touchscreen, a touch pad, a remote control, a pointingdevice and/or microphone.

The features and functions disclosed above, as well as alternatives, maybe combined into many other different systems or applications. Variouspresently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications,variations or improvements may be made by those skilled in the art, eachof which is also intended to be encompassed by the disclosedembodiments.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A system for tracking the location of atarget electronic device, the system comprising: the target electronicdevice; and a wireless location tag comprising: a microcontroller unit,and a modular connector interface configured to be communicativelycoupled to a port of the target electronic device; and wherein thewireless location tag is configured to: establish an Internet connectionto one or more backend electronic devices in response to detecting thatthe wireless location tag has been communicatively coupled to the portof the target electronic device, obtain identifying information that isassociated with the target electronic device, identify tag identifyinginformation associated with the wireless location tag, send one or moreassociation instructions to the one or more backend electronic devicesvia the Internet connection, wherein the one or more associationinstructions comprise the identifying information associated with thetarget electronic device and the tag identifying information, whereinthe one or more backend electronic devices is configured to store atleast a portion of the identifying information associated with thetarget electronic device in association with at least a portion of thetag identifying information in response to receiving the one or moreassociation instructions, and send one or more ping messages to the oneor more backend electronic devices, wherein each ping message compriseslocation information indicating a current location of the wirelesslocation tag, wherein the one or more backend electronic devices isconfigured to associate at least a portion of the location informationwith the at least a portion of the identifying information associatedwith the target electronic device.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein theport comprises an Ethernet port.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein thewireless location tag is configured to establish the Internet connectionto the one or more backend electronic devices via the port.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the wireless location tag is configured toestablish the Internet connection to the one or more backend electronicdevices via a cellular modem of the wireless location tag.
 5. The systemof claim 1, wherein the wireless location tag is configured to obtainidentifying information that is associated with the target electronicdevice by obtaining one or more of the following: a media access controladdress of the target electronic device; an Internet Protocol address ofthe target electronic device; or a serial number of the targetelectronic device.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the wirelesslocation tag is configured to obtain tag identifying information that isassociated with the wireless location tag by retrieving a uniqueidentifier associated with the wireless location tag from themicrocontroller unit.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the wirelesslocation tag is further configured to determine the current location ofthe wireless location tag.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein thewireless location tag is configured to determine the current location ofthe wireless location tag using an indoor location system.
 9. The systemof claim 7, wherein the wireless location tag is configured to determinethe current location of the wireless location tag via a cellularnetwork.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein the target electronic devicecomprises a print device.
 11. The system of claim 1, wherein thewireless location tag is configured to: compare the current location ofthe wireless location tag to a previous location of the wirelesslocation tag; and in response to determining that the previous locationis different than the current location, send a notification to the oneor more backend electronic devices.
 12. The system of claim 1, whereinthe wireless location tag is configured to: detect whether the wirelesslocation tag is disconnected from a power source for a period of time;and in response to detecting that the wireless location tag isdisconnected from the power source for the period of time, send anotification to the one or more backend electronic devices.
 13. A methodof tracking the location of a target electronic device, the methodcomprising: detecting, by a wireless location tag, that the wirelesslocation tag has been communicatively coupled to a port of the targetelectronic device; in response to detecting that the wireless locationtag has been communicatively coupled to the port of the targetelectronic device, establishing an Internet connection to one or morebackend electronic devices; obtaining identifying information that isassociated with the target electronic device; identifying tagidentifying information associated with the wireless location tag;sending one or more association instructions to the one or more backendelectronic devices via the Internet connection, wherein the one or moreassociation instructions comprise the identifying information associatedwith the target electronic device and the tag identifying information,wherein the one or more backend electronic devices is configured tostore at least a portion of the identifying information associated withthe target electronic device in association with at least a portion ofthe tag identifying information in response to receiving the one or moreassociation instructions; and sending one or more ping messages to theone or more backend electronic devices, wherein each ping messagecomprises location information indicating a current location of thewireless location tag, wherein the one or more backend electronicdevices is configured to associate at least a portion of the locationinformation with the at least a portion of the identifying information.14. The method of claim 13, wherein establishing an Internet connectioncomprises establishing the Internet connection to the one or morebackend electronic devices via the port.
 15. The method of claim 13,wherein establishing an Internet connection comprises establishing theInternet connection to the one or more backend electronic devices via acellular modem of the wireless location tag.
 16. The method of claim 13,wherein obtaining identifying information that is associated with thetarget electronic device comprises obtaining one or more of thefollowing: a media access control address of the target electronicdevice; an Internet Protocol address of the target electronic device; ora serial number of the target electronic device.
 17. The method of claim13, wherein obtaining tag identifying information comprises retrieving aunique identifier associated with the wireless location tag from themicrocontroller unit.
 18. The method of claim 13, further comprising:determining the current location of the wireless location tag; comparingthe current location of the wireless location tag to a previous locationof the wireless location tag; and in response to determining that theprevious location is different than the current location, sending anotification to the one or more backend electronic devices.
 19. Themethod of claim 13, wherein the target electronic device comprises aprint device.
 20. The method of claim 13, further comprising: detectingwhether the wireless location tag is disconnected from a power sourcefor a period of time; and in response to detecting that the wirelesslocation tag is disconnected from the power source for the period oftime, sending a notification to the one or more backend electronicdevices.